Why do we call the struggle for freedom in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain the "Arab Spring"? Like all the other political "springs" we refer to, this expression has its root in the German "Volkertfruhling" (people's spring). It was an expression coined in Germany and used to express the movements for greater freedom in Europe that culminated in the year 1848. At that time, the Germans (and their Viennese cousins) were in the vanguard of the struggle to expand human rights.
It is these Germans, this tradition, which has emerged today. For every tank the small German military possesses, Syria has ten. Today, Germany, and the German states, are experiencing the longest absence of war in their entire history. It is their leader, a woman, that has raised the most serious objections to socializing bank debt. It is in Germany, not the USA, where the good old-fashioned ideals of American cloth-coat republicanism are surviving.
It is not likely that the Germans will defeat the Masters of the Universe. They may, if we're lucky, push them back a little; force them to take a little "haircut" and make them become responsible for some portion of their misbehavior. To the extent that they do succeed, this will be Germany's gift to the rest us. Accustomed to the scorn of the world, the Germans will not ask for a "thank you". Yet, shouldn't the rest of us say something?
I think so. As we have already used up our huzzahs for the general blessing revealed in a peaceful Europe, what can we say now to cheer both the spirit of the "other Germany" in standing up to Die Ubermenschen, and the spirit of giving?
Merry Christmas!
San Antonio, Texas
October, 2
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